4.12.2007

The TIC Lobby

I was motivated by something I read on another blog, SF TIC, that alerted me to a group that's trying to unify the thousands of TIC owners in San Francisco. So I sent the following email to my supervisor. No it was not perfectly formulated. I didn't even edit or much less copy edit it (which anathema to me, a...gasp...PROFESSIONAL EDITOR, but, seriously, I wanted to make sure it got sent and didn't just sit in my head for a few more years.)

As the recent editorial in The Examiner pointed out, statutory limitation on condo conversion is a flawed policy. It has little impact on tenant evictions, and is, in essence, a taking of private property.

I have been a TIC owner since 2005. My group of two middle-class families purchased a building on a bad block in a neighborhood riddled with gun warfare of gang violence. Besides installing lights on our porch, picking up litter, and planting trees on the sidewalk, we're raising families here and befriending our neighbors, trying to make the community safe for middle-class people like us. We'd love to see more San Franciscans follow in our footsteps and take pride in their city by planting trees, picking up litter, and discouraging criminal activity on their individual blocks. It has to start somewhere, doesn't it?

Where does it start? With the pride of homeownership. San Francisco needs more homeowners. Why continue to penalize those of us who have put so much love and money into our buildings and, in turn, our City neighborhoods? Make it easier for people to buy and own units in San Francisco's characteristic old, multi-unit buildings. It is good for the city!